Political committees lose appeal of Stanford donations

Once again, the Republican and Democratic national committees have been told by a federal court to repay money donated to them by convicted international swindler Allen Stanford. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled today that the committees’ argument for keeping the money wasn’t persuasive.

Both political parties have been resisting efforts by Ralph Janvey, the court-appointed receiver in the case, to recover money for investors that Stanford donated prior to the collapse of his financial empire in 2009.

Part of the reason for the appeal was that the committees’ claimed Janvey’s fees were too high. As I said before, that’s like being given money from someone who robbed a bank, then refusing to return it because you believe the police are paid too much.

The question, of course, is whether the politicians will finally pay up or continue to hold onto stolen money and appeal the case again.

There’s still more than $1.7 million worth of investors’ money that politicians for both parties are refusing to return, including both sitting Texas senators and a certain incumbent U.S. president. Here’s the whole list:Political Contributions 06212012